When the pathway stops glowing
In the golden days of hymns we sang, “We will follow the steps of Jesus where’er they go?” Then in the early days of choruses we sang, “I have decided …
Getting rescued from Mount Stupid
Holding firmly to one’s beliefs was among the earliest edicts in the faith tradition that nurtured me. That was bad advice. It was built on the false notion that we …
Fixing the fix
To a large degree, professing Christians in America got in on the fix by rearranging the essentials of the faith to which Jesus calls those who seek to live in …
“Wait, I thought he was on our team”
My default is set on avoiding sports illustrations because men tend to use too many of them — and not often well. But throughout the season I have been contemplating …
Support determines scale
Thanksgiving is a good time to reflect on the first year of the Jesus Worldview Initiative as part of the Rev. Charlie Curb Center for Faith Leadership at Belmont University. …
It’s time to close the curtains on one-act Christianity
Today’s very popular expression of Americanized Christianity got way off script when it became a one-act play rather than an ongoing adventure series. The main plot was lost when the …
When a sermon ruined a song
Willie Nelson’s song, “Always on my mind,” was ruined for me shortly after its 1982 release. By a preacher. For a good reason. While the song had been recorded a …
On judging others
Several years ago I wrote a column titled, “Why I don’t do dueling Bible verses,” noting how easy it is to extract something from the ancient texts that supports — …